Government approves NIS 1 billion plan to aid Holocaust survivors

The plan initiated by Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Welfare Minister Meir Cohen, aims to assist some 193,000 Holocaust survivors for the next five years.

“It is our moral obligation to ensure that Holocaust survivors among us will live the rest of their lives with respect and welcome,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in his opening remarks at the cabinet meeting.

The national plan outlines ten points aimed at reducing the bureaucracy faced by survivors, and improve their living conditions.

The plan calls for the allocation of NIS 277 million intended to end 61 years of disparity and equate the allowances of some 18,500 Holocaust survivors who made aliya after 1953 to survivors who arrived in the country prior to this date.

Under the new plan these allowances would increase to a range of NIS 1,825 to NIS 5,400 per month.

The reform would also raise the minimum allowances for all Holocaust survivors receiving monthly pensions from NIS 1,825 to NIS 2,200. This NIS 166 million allotment will benefit some 85,000 Holocaust survivors and victims of Nazi persecution.

The third point in the plan, estimated at NIS 130 million, would entitle Holocaust survivors to a 100% discount on pharmaceutical drugs included in the health basket, compared to the 50% deductible received today.

The plan also calls for the elimination of unnecessary bureaucracy, transferring allowances directly to survivors’ bank accounts. To date, Holocaust survivors who immigrated after 1953 and who are not veterans of the death camps and ghettos were entitled to a reimbursement of NIS 4,000 once every two years for dental treatments and eye glasses upon providing receipts and documentation.

The proposed amendment, estimated at NIS 288 million, would automatically allocate an annual grant of NIS 3,600 directly to the bank accounts of Holocaust survivors without the need for receipts or documentation.

Furthermore, the proposed plan calls for some 9,000 needy Holocaust survivors to receive an annual grant of NIS 2,000, estimated at a total of NIS 18 million.

An additional NIS 65 million, under the proposed plan, would be allocated to spouses of Holocaust survivors who have died, in the form of a NIS 2,000 allowance per month beginning from the fourth year of the death.

The national plan also calls for welfare services in existing day centers as well as doctor’s home visits and emotional and psychological care for Holocaust survivors, estimated at NIS 70 million.

Finally, the plan would call for a change in the methods for calculating income, so as not to include allowances paid for by the Holocaust Survivors Rights Authority. Currently, the nursing allowance paid by the National Insurance Institute is calculated based on an income test of the elderly person.

With the approval of the plan, allowances paid to the Holocaust survivors would no longer be considered income with regards to entitlement for nursing pensions.